[Assessment of posture in an automotive industry using ISO -11228-3 technique]

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders [WMSDs] of upper limbs [UL] in the last 35 years have become extremely wide spread reaching epidemic levels in all advanced industrialized countries. They are considered the main cause of disability, time off work, and requests for healthcare. For detailed risk assessment, ISO -11228-3 is the preferred method. It is recommended for the specific purposes of ISO -11228-3[2007] because, given the knowledge at the time of publication, it considers all the relevant risk factors, is also applicable to "multitask jobs", and provides criteria - based on extensive epidemiological data - for forecasting the occurrence of UL-WMSD [upper limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders] in exposed working populations. In this method is the ratio between the number of actual technical actions, ATA, carried out during a work shift and the number of reference technical actions, RTA, for each upper limb, specifically determined in the scenario under examination. Results shown in 4 workstations include 35 task in an automotive industry. One of them is red and another's are green. This method is suitable, quickly and very easy to use for assessment of ergonomics situation in work

[Evaluation of concentration methylene diphenyl diisocyanate [MDI] in the polyurethane industries of Iran]

MDI [Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate] is a high tonnage product, which comprises about 90% of the total diisocyanate in the market. Polyurethanes are produced by reacting diisocyanate with polyols and other chemicals. They are known as respiratory tract and skin sensitizers and are the most common cause of occupational asthma in the world [NIOSH 1994]. On this subject, evaluation of MDI concentration in the polyurethane factories by HPLC, and is worthy to determine its pollution level. All sampling methods have some limitation, therefore, this survey the method of NIOSH 5522 has been used as a standard sampling and analyzing method t then, we utilize SPSS V.13 software, for our data to be analyzed for statistical discussion. Results showed that all of the polyurethane industries under this study have high concentration, rate of more than 80 micro g/m[3]. There was a strong correlation between indoor temperature and high MDI concentration, thus, it implies that various temperatures may be increased, in addition to working time ensuring it has a good correlation with MDI concentration. It also implies that when ever they have more working time comparatively, in turn, they have high exposure rate of MDI pollutant in the workplace. To obtain a better way for determination of MDI concentration in the workplace is using biological monitoring as a standard method to survey the exposure to diisocyanate, by using metabolite determination, it will be easier to collect and analyze more samples as the sampling is not as time-consuming as air monitoring

[Sensitivity and specificity of CA 15-3 in detection of breast cancer recurrence]

The value of CA15-3[cancer antigen 15-3] marker in early detection of breast cancer recurrence has and been studied in several prospective trials. But the results of these studies are different. This may be due to variable cutoff and points used for analysis, different intervals between CA15-3 measurements and the differences between patients and population. This study was done to examine the predictive value, sensitivity and specificity of `CA15-3 in detection of and breast cancer recurrence in Iranian patients, using a commercial available ELISA assay with a cut-off value of 30 u/ml. and For this purpose serial blood samples and clinical data of 133 female patients with breast cancer referring and for adjuvant treatment to Radiation Oncology Department of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from 1379 to 1382 and were collected and for all cases of clinically suspected recurrence, routine methods were used for documentation. Mean age of patients was 45.6 years [SD 11] and mean time of follow up was 17.5 months. Recurrence was and documented in 39 patients who were classified into 4 groups: patients with documented recurrence and early elevated and marker [true positive,32 patients], patients with documented recurrence but no elevated marker[false negative, 7 and patients], those without recurrence and normal marker [true negative,76 patients] and those without recurrence but and elevated marker [false positive,18 patients]. According to these data sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative and predictive values of CA15-3 were 82,80.85,64 and 91.5 percent respectively. CA15-3 with cut-off point of 30 u/ml has an adequate sensitivity and specificity for early detection of and breast cancer recurrence in Iranian patients